With His Final Words
by T'Liana
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki joined the Australian army in World War II to protect his country from the Japanese but now he's dying and no one will remember him… except for the enemy soldier that stays to hear his final words. SasuNaru.


This story came out of all the WWII study I was forced to do in high school, seeing as my country had our own little war going on while Europe did the brunt of the fighting with Hitler and stuff. This is about the Kokoda Track and stuff like that when the Japanese started moving down through Vietnam and Papua New Guinea to get to Australia. You'll have to forgive me if some of my facts are a bit off - it's been a couple years.

And this story is kinda sad so... you've been warned.

o.O.o

 **With His Final Words**

Naruto was eighteen, just old enough to enlist. He'd done so under the impression that he could make a difference in this infernal war that waged all throughout Asia and Europe, which was now dragging Australia into it. What had Australia done? Sure, they'd supported the Allied war effort and supplied troops for the European struggle, but that was because they were part of the Commonwealth.

Now the weakened country had been targeted by the Japanese, who were slowly moving their way down through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The government had rushed to assemble a force to fight against their enemy and Naruto had been pulled away from his sister and old godfather to enlist.

His father had been an army sergeant in World War I and his mother a volunteer nurse. Both were sent to Europe and neither came back, leaving twin babies Naruto and Naruko under the care of their father's best friend, an elderly man named Jiraiya. Jiraiya had done the best he could under the circumstances and the twins loved him very much, so much so that Naruko refused to join the Women's' Corp in favour of staying with him. Naruto, however, was forced to join the army.

He was glad that Naruko was safe. At least she hadn't been exposed to the horrors that he had. At least she hadn't spent nights awake with fear as leaves rustled in the jungles of Indonesia. To him, every leaf was an enemy soldier waiting to sneak up and stab him with a bayonet.

His team of four boys had stuck with him over the last three months. Kiba Inuzuka had joined to protect his sister and widowed mother. Choji Akimichi had joined because the government essentially dragged him from his home by his hair. Shikamaru Nara had joined because that's what everyone else was doing. None of them would ever return home the same.

Naruto wouldn't return at all. Their squad of four had been attacked while on patrol and pinned down. Kiba was shot in the shoulder and Choji dragged him back to the camp while Naruto and Shikamaru provided cover fire. When the attack wouldn't let up, Naruto ordered Shikamaru to follow the others. At first the boy was reluctant but the bullets whizzing over his head provided enough incentive to crawl after the disappearing forms of Kiba and Choji.

The blonde with blue eyes had been crawling for a better position when a bullet ripped through his gut. He gasped and rolled onto his back, pulling his suddenly unresponsive body up against a soggy jungle tree. His hair stuck to his face and the humidity kept it there. The gunshots ceased and it was perfectly silent except for the harsh orders of the Japanese troops.

He saw a man, who looked to be the leader, point in his direction and mime chopping a head off. Naruto tried to summon fear and desperation but he couldn't. All his fear had been used up a long time ago, replaced by calm acceptance.

All but one enemy soldier melted away into the jungle. The soldier approached Naruto and the blonde noted, with some shock, that this was a boy like him. He had pale skin covered with mud, jet-black hair and dark onyx eyes. It seemed that this boy had also witnessed terrible things and tried to shut off his emotions, just like Naruto. Both boys looked at each other for a long moment before the pale boy raise his bayonet, gritting his teeth. Naruto watched a battle wage in the boy's eyes and waited for the inevitable plunge, but it never came. The boy tossed his weapon down and collapsed beside him, unable to kill the defenceless and dying Australian.

"My name's Naruto," he murmured weakly. "I have a twin sister called Naruko. She's really pretty. And there's my godfather Jiraiya. We owe everything to him. What's your name?"

The boy stared at him for a long moment before pointing at himself. "Sasuke Uchiha." He asked something in Japanese that Naruto didn't understand, gesturing at the blonde.

"You don't have to kill me. I'm dying anyway. The least I can do is die quietly." His eyes strayed on the other boy's face. "You're very beautiful. The army doesn't like gay guys enlisting but I'd like someone to know my secret."

Sasuke hesitated, not understanding his words, and unclipped a canteen from his belt. He held it out to Naruto, who nodded and opened his mouth. Naruto sipped carefully, loving the taste of cool water on his tongue and realised that his sense of taste was becoming weaker as his life bled out. Everything was becoming weaker. He handed back the canteen.

"I only wanted to come to protect my family. I knew I could die this way but it hasn't felt real before." Naruto twitched his fingers and opened his hand. "Don't let me be alone, please."

The pale boy immediately laced his fingers through Naruto's, remorse apparent on his face. Naruto's pulse raced at the touch and he suddenly knew that they were the same. He fumbled in his pocket with his other hand and pulled out a black-and-white photo of him and his sister.

"Naruto," he pointed at him. "Naruko," he pointed at her.

"Naruto," Sasuke murmured. He also pulled out a photo to show the blonde, one of him and an older boy. "Sasuke. Itachi."

Naruto smiled. "We're the same, you know? Fighting for the country and people we love. We could have been friends, maybe even lovers. We could have stood together and welcomed the end of this infernal war."

Sasuke let off a spiel of soft Japanese but Naruto got the gist of it. He wanted what the blonde wanted – to go home to his family in one piece, though they both knew the possibility of that was slim. When Sasuke finished, Naruto pressed his picture into the boy's hand.

"I want you to have it. I want you to remember me." Everything was getting darker, but Sasuke's face shone brightly in his vision. His grip on the boy's hand weakened. "I never wanted to fight and kill you, but I have. Please, forgive me for everything." His eyes fluttered as the darkness closed in.

Then gently, so gently he was sure he was dreaming, Sasuke leant down and pressed their lips together. "Naruto-kun," he whispered softly, running his free hand through damp blonde locks. There was no greater bond than one soldier comforting another as he passed, even if they were on opposite sides.

"Kiss me again," Naruto whispered, flicking his fading eyes down to Sasuke's lips. Sasuke got the message and moved closer, the kiss harder this time. Naruto wanted to jump for joy that he'd had his first kiss before he died, even if it was with a boy, but he liked boys instead of girls so it didn't matter. He was sure Sasuke was thinking along the same lines; that this kiss would be remembered by them only.

Sasuke felt Naruto's lips go limp and pulled back, his eyes filling with tears as the blonde's eyes closed for the final time, his breath leaving him. The pale boy took a deep breath and looked down at the photo of two blonde teenagers. He pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote on the back _Naruto_ and _Naruko_ , circling Naruto's name with a heart. Then he put the photo in the same pocket that held the photo of him and his older brother Itachi.

He bent close and tenderly kissed each of Naruto's unresponsive eyelids, silently thanking the blonde for giving him a piece of happiness amongst all the suffering. Never before had he known his enemy to be so… beautiful and kind and lovely. Sasuke then stood and released the lifeless hand, grabbing his rifle before beginning the trek back to his camp.

Sasuke didn't survive the war. He was killed two days later in a shrapnel blast and in his final moments saw Naruto's smiling face appear above his own. In that brief second he knew that he and Naruto would meet again in the future.


End file.
